10 Jul 2014

Haskins has sponsored Gaborone City regional youth top eight tournament to the tune of P60 000. The money will be used to buy kits for teams, soccer balls and pay for food and transport.

The sponsorship for this year’s tournament was unveiled on July 8 in Gaborone.  Haskins also approached a number of co-sponsors to help with finances and at least 10 of them each contributed P5 000 to raise (P50 000).

The tournament will begin this coming weekend and eight teams that finished top of their league last season will take part in the tournament. The youth teams will play in the under-13 and under-15 categories and there would be 16 in total.

Speaking during the launch, the chairperson of Gaborone City Regional Football Association Thapelo Otimile said they will repay Haskins with success. He thanked Haskins for their support and he commended the company for prolonging the good relationship between them. “We will put everything in place to make sure that all goes well” he said.

In addition, the chairperson of Gaborone City Regional youth league Lucky Phuthego also commended Haskins for a job well done. He said running the tournament was a difficult task because they don’t have resources.

He called upon anyone for financial assistance especially in the league where they don’t have any sponsor. He also said the young athletes should be assisted because they are the future national team players.

Representing the sponsors, the director of Haskins, Andrew Field said they wanted to get co-sponsors to help fulfill their mandate. He said they decided to carry on with the assistance after helping out last year and they would continue again next year.

He added that parents should continue to participate in sports because it keeps them away from trouble.

For his part, Botswana Football Association technical officer, Philemon Makhwengwe said he was grateful that Haskins invested their efforts in grassroots football. He said the children start from the youth tournament right up the premier league.

He suggested that Haskins should be endorsed as one of BFA’s sponsors. He said BFA will take coaches to another level because of their tireless job. He said coaches should be proper role models.

He also said the tournament will help carry the good message to the children. The tournament will run from the July 12 to 13, 2014. Participating teams include Vicomates, Topstars, White City, Smorden, Young Strikers, NDB, GU, Amagents, GFA, The Crowns and B.U. ENDS